Melody of Mana 3 E-Book

Wandering Agent

• Herausgeber: Podium Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Melody of Mana
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 462

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Teenage mage Alana navigates politics, family drama, and graduation in the third installment of an inventive, romantic, and fun progression-fantasy series.   Ever since Alana was reborn in the Kingdom of Bergond, her life has been a series of adventures and surprises. But waking up to discover the kingdom has been conquered, her school has been destroyed, and her parents are back in her life might be the biggest shock yet.   Now that Lord Durin is in charge, everything's more complicated. For one thing, Alana's father is Durin's right-hand man, which means the teen must contend with courtly manners, stuffy traditions, and noble obligations, though she'd rather be practicing how to create portals and fight monsters. For another, Durin's rule is still tenuous, leaving him and all who support him open to attack. And as if that weren't enough, Alana must find time to protect her friends, salvage her relationship, and keep up with her studies enough to actually graduate.   Brilliantly combining traditional and progression fantasy with elements of romance, humor, dark academia, and action-adventure, Melody of Mana 3 is an irresistible addition to any genre fan's collection.   The third volume of the hit progression-fantasy series—with more than two million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible and wherever ebooks are sold! 

Leseprobe

MELODY

OF

MANA

✦ B O O K  3 ✦

WANDERING AGENT

In loving memory of Cool

I hope one day to have the patience you did

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Michael Robert Taylor

Cover design by Podium Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-0394-1953-7

Published in 2023 by Podium Publishing, ULC

www.podiumaudio.com

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 CATCHING UP

CHAPTER 2 A QUICK OUTING AND IRRITATED MENTOR

CHAPTER 3 ANGRY GUARDIANS AND MY TUTOR

CHAPTER 4 TEAMING UP WITH PROFESSOR ETIA

CHAPTER 5 MOCK BATTLE

CHAPTER 6 TERMS OF AMNESTY

CHAPTER 7 RETURN

CHAPTER 8 FAMILY LEARNING TIME

CHAPTER 9 RETURNING TO THE ACADEMY

CHAPTER 10 PROPAGANDA AND AN UGLY CRY

CHAPTER 11 LOVERS’ WORRIES

CHAPTER 12 THE PLANNING

CHAPTER 13 PLAN IN ACTION

CHAPTER 14 EMBERS

CHAPTER 15 DINNER GUESTS

CHAPTER 16 MYSTIEN’S WORKSHOP

CHAPTER 17 WEDDING PLANS

CHAPTER 18 KALA’S OPINIONS AND AN ARRANGEMENT

CHAPTER 19 GATEWAY

CHAPTER 20 DEMOCRACY AND A NEW SPELL

CHAPTER 21 DISTORTIONS AND DANCES

CHAPTER 22 THE WEDDING

CHAPTER 23 THE CHASE

CHAPTER 24 BREAKUPS

CHAPTER 25 THE HAMMER FALLS

CHAPTER 26 INTERROGATION

CHAPTER 27 IF YOU DESIRE PEACE …

CHAPTER 28 PREPARE FOR WAR

CHAPTER 29 PLANNING FOR FUN

CHAPTER 30 PARTY TIME

CHAPTER 31 BREAKING AND ENTERING

CHAPTER 32 RETURN TO THE UNDERCITY

CHAPTER 33 RETURN TO THE DEPTHS

CHAPTER 34 GRADUATION AND GARDEN TALKS

CHAPTER 35 YEAR FOUR BEGINS

CHAPTER 36 “HELP”

CHAPTER 37 TRIALS AND EXAMINATIONS

CHAPTER 38 LEAVING THE ACADEMY

CHAPTER 39 A DAY IN THE OFFICE

CHAPTER 40 THE PRINCE’S GAMBITS

CHAPTER 41 ONWARD AND OUTWARD

PREVIEW: MELODY OF MANA 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

✦

CATCHING UP

I was quickly moved to the headquarters for Dad’s army. It was a large governmental building they’d taken over some time ago. They’d chosen this one because of the nearby prison (for captured soldiers, mages, etc.), the thick walls, and the ready-made offices. I, of course, didn’t get to see much of it, due to the fact that I was rushed in, taken to an office, sat down, and given a list of places and names to memorize by Mystien.

His safehouse and contact list was about a page long, and Dad told me, in no uncertain terms, that I wouldn’t be allowed to leave until I could recite the whole thing backward. I later learned that this was an exercise that I’d be doing for several weeks, so that I wouldn’t ever forget where to go if things ever hit the fan again.

“Please tell me you’re not actually going to make this a daily thing,” I said when Dad finally returned to test me late that evening.

“It’s in case you ever run away again, and yes, I am.”

“I did not run away, I was kidnapped,” I retorted.

“You were, and you smartly made it to a nearby, safe location. From which you ran away halfway across the country to stay with a bartender you’d never met.”

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid.”

“It sure does, and so you will be given to memorize a list of places to go and people to see should things ever go wrong again.”

“Fine, not like there’s too much else for me to do right now anyway. The academy is shut down, you don’t want me out and in the town, and you and John are both busy out of your minds.”

“You could spin. You love spinning.”

“I loved spinning when I was six, Dad, and most of that was spending time with people while doing it.”

He gave me a very sad look. “It’s been too long, far, far too long. I’m sorry that I had to leave, and even more so for all that happened afterward.”

Now it was my turn to feel bad. “You didn’t have much of a choice from what I understand, and I’m not even mad that you didn’t tell me where you were going. I know that I was too young then and you couldn’t trust me, but what happened to the village wasn’t your fault. That all lies squarely at the feet of Lord Hazelwood.”

“Lay squarely, he’s dead.”

“Did you … ?”

“Yes. You don’t need more details than that. I don’t want you to have nightmares.”

“Oh, Dad, nightmares are my normal state. I saw the town slowly starve while I tried my hardest and failed to stop it. I gutted Malke. I was kidnapped, threatened, fought a massive iron golem and a mana eater. I was hit with a lightning bomb and left barely able to move in a field. I … I saw Rod … after what they did to him. Good dreams are a rare gift for me, and knowing that you skinned that bastard or something wouldn’t bother me a bit.”

He sat down near me, finding one of the office chairs. “Alana, that shouldn’t have happened. I wanted you and your brothers to have a peaceful life, not … not the one you’ve had.”

I rose, heading over to him and kissing his cheek. “Things happen, Dad; it’s not your fault. Now, can we go get some food? I’ve been in here all day.”

“That sounds good actually; let’s go. Also, where in the world did you run into a mana eater or an iron golem for that matter?”

As we rose and moved to the door, I looked at him. “Do you want the story of how I met the crown prince first? Or the one where I was at a party that turned into a bloodbath?”

“Alana, do me a favor.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t dump all of this on your mother at once. Who knows how she’ll react?”

“I think I’m going to gloss over the worst parts. She is a bit prone to overreacting. Anyway, since you didn’t answer … It all started after we went to see the exams for the academy …”

I slept in late the next morning, not realizing how much I missed that luxury that students seldom got. When I woke up in the room assigned to me, I found that it was still a bit depressingly empty. I didn’t have many of my meager possessions on me, and those I did were mostly functional.

There was a bowl of fruit for breakfast, along with some bread and water. It was plain, but good, and that was something that I missed a bit as well. Not everything had to be formal, my hair didn’t need to be put up in braids, and I didn’t need lots of layers that I couldn’t hope to put on without either help or magic. It was relaxed. Well, there was a guard just outside the door who informed me, “The general said to stay here and memorize your list,” but I could live with that.

Mystien came by around noon.

“All right, Alana, the reports about you from your teachers say that you had an unusual magic item. There are perhaps other things too?”

“Um? The lamp?”

“Indeed, let’s see it.” I shrugged and brought over my lamp, which was still hovering around a full charge. “What’s it do?” Mystien asked as he gave it the same odd look everyone did when they first saw it.

“It’s a lamp.”

“What’s it actually do?”

“It’s a lamp.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Why does it feel … sort of too right?”

“I’m not completely sure on that.”

“Best guess.”

“Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-nine,” I sang. Translating the song was a bit clunky, but it still kind of worked.

“I … Is that pi!?” Interestingly pi was pronounced the same here. I suspected that some, or many, other people from Earth had seen to that.

“Well, some of it. Pi isn’t really a number that you can just say … I think? Regardless, that is way more accurate than what everyone normally uses. I think that’s why it looks … wonky, or part of it at least. I was also humming when I made the thing, so there may be some bardic nonsense going on too.” I knew for a fact that pi was irrational, but there was no reason to go into detail there, or to tell him I knew a hundred digits of it.

“Okay … very well. That is something I’ll want to experiment with later, but for now let’s go over the spells you can do.”

I spent the next hour or so going through most of the variations of what I could do for him, and giving basic, if not completely accurate explanations.

“I see why the capture team had a hard time with you. Lucien taught you illusions, I’m guessing?” At my nod, he continued. “The fire and lightning are particularly impressive. Most bards never manage something like either of those. I’m also personally amused by the sugar spell, not because it’s magically impressive or anything, but rather that you spent that much time and mana learning to make sweets.”

“Sweets are important! What can a girl do if she cannot bake cakes or make her tea tasty? The best parts of life are enjoying sweet things.” I raised my fist in an overly dramatic pose. “Long live sweets!”

The old man groaned, tossing a ball of cold water at me with a lazy flick. “Try to take this seriously.”

As I dried myself, I glared at him. “You’re still a grumpy old fart.”

“And you’re still childish.”

“Being childish is an art form, Mystien. You should engage in it more often. It’s fun.”

“I’m well aware, but there’s a time for everything.”

“Fair enough, anything else?” I’d shown him my spells now. I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t asked about the sky-metal. But if he wasn’t asking, I wasn’t volunteering it; when I got used to things and knew everyone was on the up-and-up, perhaps.

“How exactly did you manage to keep casting after the capture team silenced you?”

“Oh, I cast through dance.”

“Interesting. I knew there were elves who did that sometimes. Did you discover that on your own?”

“What? No, I’ve been taking Atali Dance at the academy for like a year.”

“Oh. When your father sees you doing that, I’m sure he’ll be … surprised.” He barely held back his laugh. “I don’t know if he’s ever seen Elven dances before. I wonder what he’ll say.”

I leaned in close. “Yes, good, embrace the laughter.” Eventually, he gave in.

I was informed that Mom was somewhere safe and would be told of my “rescue” as quickly as possible. Messengers had been dispatched, but they were notoriously slow, particularly now, as the snow had finally begun to fall in earnest.

I was locked up and mostly bored for about a week. I’d spent my time alone working on my core for the most part and doing some self-assigned work on item creation, all theoretical, in the last part, but it was fun. I spent my afternoons doing some dance practice, good for if I got silenced again and excellent exercise. The fact that my dad was never around in the afternoons may have had something to do with the time slot. I’d also taken to wearing my earpiece as a decoration, hoping for some information on Dras.

As I came out of my evening session of core improvement, I heard a noise in my ear.

“How should I know? She just said to use this thing if it got bad and to try and be outside … No, I don’t know what it does, no, no. Yes, I did try it when we evacuated, but nothing happened. Just relax, I’ll only be a …”

“Who’s there?”

“Alana? Where are you? Are you invisible again?”

“No, it’s the earpiece. Who am I talking to?”

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, it’s me, Dras. You haven’t forgotten me, have you?” His voice on the last bit was a bit cheeky.

“No, you idiot. I was just slammed for a few days there. I’m glad you’re okay. What’s the news?”

“Yeah … yeah, I understand. We need help, Alana. It looks like the palace fell a few days ago and the city is overrun with soldiers. Are you still in the city?”

“Um … yeah, so …” This was going to be an awkward conversation; there was no doubt in my mind about that.

CHAPTER 2

✦

A QUICK OUTING AND IRRITATED MENTOR

Right, right, Dras, first I need to know what you need.” It took me a few moments to put all my thoughts together, then into words.

“Well, help mostly.” He seemed to think it was obvious.

“Duh, what I mean is what specifically do you need? Are you trying to leave, get food, what?”

“Looking for information, and any info on where kingdom’s army is.”

“Well, the army is gone, Dras; the kingdom is gone. Looks like the government has changed, at least here. Not sure what else there is to say about that. Where are you?”

“Shit, and I can’t say.”

“Yeah, so, new regime. What do you need now?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t either, Dras. If you want to surrender to the new soldiers, that’s probably easy enough, and you’ll be safe.”

“We’ll be safe? Alana, they invaded the capital. They took the city! Do you know how many people died?”

“I do, and I also know that no more need to perish. You could also go to the temple district and stay there for the time being, but you’d have to swear not to get involved in the fighting anymore, and they’d hold you to it. That’s what I did with Kala. I’m sorry that I couldn’t bring you along on that, but there was no time. A lot of things happened.” I opted for the moment not to tell him that my family was with the new owners of this city, mostly because I was afraid of how he’d react.

I knew that Dras would eventually learn about my family, but there was no need to rush that. I hoped that he would forgive me, but first I needed him, and whoever he was with, to be safe. Was that a bit hypocritical? Yes. I was not going to force him or trick him too much though.

“I don’t suppose you could help us get there?” Dras asked on the other end.

“How many of you are there?”

“Fifteen.”

“Dras, I can’t make that many people invisible, and I don’t know the undercity as well as you do. I’m afraid that I am not too much help here. I also did promise not to get involved in the fighting anymore for now. I doubt the temples will look kindly on me helping you that way.”

“Can you at least let people know we’re coming? I’d rather not show up unexpected.”

“That I can do.”

It was decidedly something I wasn’t supposed to be doing, but I took a bit of time after lunch the following day to write a note explaining to my dad that I was fine and would be back shortly. Hopefully, he wouldn’t find it while I was out. I was more than tired of his overprotectiveness and decided to do what every decent bard would have and go for a bit of a break.

As I was setting up all the spells I would need for this, I wondered briefly if the propensity for making a break for it was from being a bard, or if that propensity is what made you a bard. It really did seem to be a running theme among the lot of us, and there had to be something more to it. I’d also noticed that all the priests tended to fall into the same basic mold, same with wizards. Someone surely had asked these questions before, and I’d have to look up the prevailing theories if and when I ever got back to school.

I opened my door a few minutes later and began a brief discussion with the guard. It was mostly on the timetable for my family getting home, which I knew he didn’t have, and requesting that dinner be pushed back just a bit, so I’d have more time to get back to my room. I walked down the hall as my illusion finished up, closing the door with a simple movement spell.

Once I was well out of the vicinity of my room, I dropped the invisibility. They certainly had some form of defense against that, and I was known to at least some of the people here. It might be hard to come up with an explanation if any were too curious about what I was doing, but that seemed unlikely as long as I kept my head up and looked like I was going where I was supposed to be.

Of course, I ran into a small snag. A man whom I didn’t really recognize stopped me in the hall.

“Hey, you’re the girl General Verren sent us after. Alana, right?”

“Yes, sir, did you need something?” I smiled lightly and looked him straight on.

“Yeah, he told us who you were a couple of days ago. Don’t worry. We’ll keep it secret. That said, me and the boys were wondering how you managed to keep casting after the silence spell?”

“Oh, you don’t have to make noise to cast, just perform. As soon as you hit me with that spell, I started dancing.”

“Dancing? I’ve heard of elves doing some dance magic, but that’s an odd one.”

“Yeah, they taught us Atali Dance. Our professor talked about the basics a few times. I was also nearly done with the spell.”

“Regardless, you caught us all right off guard on that one. Mind running us through some of the info on it later?”

“Not at all, just send a letter to the general or Mystien.” I almost asked him to send it to me, but if he did that too soon, it would cause issues. Better to punt the problem on to Dad.

“Thanks, see you later.”

Once I was past him, it was a straight shot to the exit. In pretty much every place I’d ever been on either world, public buildings like this seemed to follow the same design: labyrinthine back areas, which I only knew because of a few outings; numbered doors; and big, open, obvious public doors.

Security was minimal since I was leaving, not coming in, another oversight on somebody’s part that I was not going to complain about. Those coming in were thoroughly checked and identified. There was no chance of me entering as easily as I was leaving, but I’d burn that bridge when I came to it.

The streets were, unfortunately, packed to the brim with snow. I’d been inside so much I hadn’t even thought about it being winter right now. The main roads had at least been cleared, and a spell kept me from getting warm. I did stick out a bit in my “sit around the house” outfit, as I’d neglected any of the thicker clothes or shawls that most women were wearing right now. There was also almost nobody around, which didn’t help either.

About halfway there, I heard a crunch of snow beside me. Turning around, I saw Charles, who seemed to be just about everywhere in the lower city nowadays.

“Hi.” He was wearing a newer-looking outfit, a dark gray tunic and pants with matching cloak.

“Hi, Charles, did you need something?”

“Is everything okay? I got the feeling you were being kept like a caged bird there.”

“I broke out. Don’t tell anyone.” I made a shh motion with my finger, which got a smile.

“I see. Mind if I join you? The old man asked me to keep an eye out.”

“Sure, I’m just going down to the temple district for a bit though.”

“Not planning on running away then?” He asked as we began walking again.

“Nah, just going for a walk. Dad means well, but he can be suffocating sometimes.”

“That I understand. When I first got back, my mom hardly let me out of her sight for a while.” He had the same calm, quiet voice, but this had to be the most words I’d ever heard him speak.

“What did you do?” Perhaps he had some advice to help with my own problems.

“I made it clear that I could take care of myself and that she needed to stop.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It is simple, but simple isn’t always easy.”

I spent some time going over that last statement in my mind. I kind of understood why Dad was being the way he was, but clearly needed to put my foot down. I’d lived on my own for several years and just putting me in a room was not going to work for long. He’d know that I’d left when I came back, so hopefully that would put an end to this house arrest.

Soon enough, we made it to the entrance of the temple district, and while I wanted to go in, I was now very connected to one of the forces in this city. I could enter, of course, but I felt that it would send a bit of a mixed message, and I doubted Charles would be able to follow. He seemed to be staying out of the fighting, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t prefer one side.

Once there, letting them know that a group of fifteen was coming, and likely had multiple casters, was trivial. I also asked for a note to be sent to Kala telling her to use the thing I gave her (specifically unspecific) if and when she got time. We could at least have phone calls if I wasn’t going to be seeing her.

On our way back, Kala came on the radio.

“Hey, didn’t you say not to use these around people?”

“It’s probably fine, and if it isn’t, you can heal any damage it does.” She laughed, and from there we chatted until another voice joined the call.

“How does this thing … wait, I hear someone. Alana, is that you?”

“Mystien? Where did you get an earpiece?”

“Lucien gave me his, obviously. The better questions are who are you talking to and why did you neglect to tell me about these?”

“Hi, I’m Kala.”

“Um … one second.” I put a silence bubble over the receiver and looked at Charles. “Didn’t you have Lucien’s earpiece?”

“I gave it back after we found you.”

“Great.” He smiled at my obvious sarcasm.

“Um, well, Mystien, it slipped my mind.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, we need to have a chat. I’ll be up there to see you in a moment.”

“Up where?”

“Your room, obviously.” At this point, I noticed that Kala had decided to sit this one out, probably for the best.

“Oh … I’m not there right now …”

“Alana, where are you?” I could feel the displeasure through the very sound of his voice.

“I … went for a walk.”

“A walk? You went for a walk?”

“Yup. Wanted to deliver a message personally …”

“Hey, Alana, we’re nearly there. Is everything good?” Dras could not have possibly had worse timing.

I could hear the sigh from the other end. “Why, hello there, newcomer, nearly where?”

“The temple district …” Dras seemed to hesitate as he, too, was picking up on the frustration.

“Alana.”

“Yes, Mystien?”

“How many of these exactly did you make?”

“Four.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup.”

“Good, come back immediately. We need to have a talk.”

After that declaration, the conversation between everyone died. Dras seemed to smartly decide that he should shut up and be quiet. Kala grasped the same situation earlier, and both said goodbye quickly, which I guessed meant they took out their earpieces. I did the same only a few moments later, if for no other reason than not wanting to get into any more trouble.

“You know, Charles, I’m reconsidering running away,” I said to my quiet companion.

“I’d rather you not.” That seemed sincere and caused me to look at him briefly. Honestly, I’d been a really terrible friend to him over the years. I should change that.

“Fine then, I’ll go back. I think Mystien is going to skin me though.”

He quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. I was a bit surprised when he followed me all the way to the headquarters, even more so, when the guards there recognized him. He had to go through checks, but so did I. They were also expecting me and were even so generous as to send an escort along to make sure I made it back to my room with no chance of getting lost. How helpful!

CHAPTER 3

✦

ANGRY GUARDIANS AND MY TUTOR

I was hesitant to return to my room actually; getting chewed out was never fun. When we arrived, I just opened the door. The guard looked at me with a frown, as I imagine he’d been told off as well.

My former teacher had a look of near rage on his face. “Alana, why did you leave without telling anyone?” He didn’t even comment on Charles, who’d followed me in.

“Because you would have stopped me or asked questions that I didn’t care to answer.”

“Well … at least you’re truthful. Do you know why we were keeping you here?”

“Because my dad is insane and overprotective? I’ve lived on my own for years now. I hardly need someone looking after me every moment.”

He got up and flicked me in the head, then set up a silence bubble around the two of us. His was not as complete feeling as mine, but it did feature a shade that prevented anyone from seeing us. I noticed that he’d even set it so that Charles was just outside.

“Alana, you are still dense, and it might get you killed. You are a military asset to whatever side you’re on.”

“I’m a sixteen-year-old girl who isn’t even fully trained.”

“Who taught me something about water I didn’t know. That increase in power alone allowed us to sweep away a number of forces that would have otherwise posed a much larger issue. Now, you have instantaneous communication over distance. Do you have any clue how valuable these little items you made are? What if I gave them to generals in different regions and we coordinated like that? That is only one small thing you could do with them.”

“I don’t think they’ll work over more than about a city or so of distance … I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure that they can’t use them to communicate that far. And it’s not quite instant.”

“That is absolutely beyond the point! I don’t think that our enemies have found out about you yet, but if they do, you are in real danger! Good grief, just think for a second. You are the child of a general in a city that was invaded less than a season ago! That alone makes you a target.”

“I’m DENSE? Mystien, I’ve lived on my own for YEARS! If you expect me to stay locked in a room because you think it’s best, you’ve lost your mind! You say that I’m capable and then treat me like a glass ornament that will break. I won’t! I can take care of myself, and I can decide who I need to trust with important things. As for those communicators, I only gave them to people who I knew were safe. I haven’t even told anyone else about the water thing, or any of the other stuff I’ve been working on— except you with the whole pi bit.”

He sat down and buried his face in his hands. “Alana, this is dangerous. Obviously, we won’t keep you here forever, but you do need to be more careful. At the very least, don’t go running off alone out into the city where we can’t help if things go wrong for now. If you get hurt or killed …”

“I don’t really have much of anywhere to go, except the temple district, and even then, they’re busy. And it’s winter and basically sucks outside. That said, I need to be trusted to take care of myself, to move about when I feel like it, and get rid of the damn guard outside of my door. I think I’ve demonstrated just how useful that is.”

“Fine, I’ll speak to your father tonight. Will you remain in place until then?”

“All right. But tell him that if he thinks he can lock me in my room forever, he’s lost his mind too.” I pouted a bit, feeling like this wasn’t a complete win.

“Good, now, before we have any more surprises, kindly tell me what you’ve been working on. The things you left out, too, please. If I know, I can possibly obscure their source, or at the least tell you how much you absolutely can’t tell anyone about them.”

“Um, so I learned some things about sky-metal.”

“The mythical, non-real substance that mages of the past claimed to have?” he asked with the I-wouldn’t-believe-anything-you-said-if-you-weren’t-someone-who-gave-me-crazy-things look.

“Oh, it’s super real. Want to know how to make it?”

I told him about everything, except the hundred digits of pi and being able to read the core. The orb still weirded me out a bit, and I didn’t want more of them floating around. He didn’t ask where I’d learned some of it, and I didn’t volunteer information. If he did, I would explain to him that I cracked the core’s internal language and got it from there. That was at least plausible and possible, but I didn’t really want to lie to him, unless it was necessary.

Mystien didn’t take any notes; he just looked at me as I told him how to break down matter. It was a hard thing to explain, so I just told him that I focused on the thing, trying to take out every different bit, kind of like sorting grains of sand.

He didn’t seem to believe me about the communicators and how they were basically a mix of a lamp and light detection script, but he’d test it and find it to be true, so I had no issues. He did ask for a lot of specifics on the frequency and the like. It seemed that wizards knew that light could be put at those levels, but nobody bothered because it seemed useless.

When he’d finished, he dropped the dome. Charles was still sitting quietly by the door, waiting for us.

“Thank you for bringing her back. We talked and I think we will be okay now,” Mystien said to him, nodding.

“Of course, you did tell me to keep an eye out.”

“Wait,” I interjected. “You said Lucien told you to do that.”

He smiled as I glared at him. “I said the old man, you never asked which one.”

“How do you two even know each other?” They were getting along far too well for my taste. The last thing I needed was for all my friends to be arrayed against me.

“Lucien,” they said in unison. It seemed I was going to have to go have a chat with the old bartender some other time.

Mystien did talk to my father, who was not angry. He was furious, enraged … really, really mad. He didn’t yell or scream though; he just showed up at my room and told me exactly how irresponsible he thought I’d been. I might have guessed he was calm had his aura not betrayed him. But he’d completely lost focus, and it was an angry black cloud filling up the doorway. He did take away the guard and told me that we’d speak in the morning. All in all, I felt that that was about as good as it could have turned out.

The next morning, both Dad and John showed up. I hadn’t seen my brother in a few days, but he looked smug, perhaps because brothers are like that when their younger siblings get in trouble.

“Mystien seems to think that me trying to keep you locked in is a bad idea, so I’ve got good news.”

“You’re going to let me go as I please?”

“No, but I won’t try to restrict you to your room. I will ask that if you want to go outside you take someone responsible with you.”

“I am responsible,” I pouted, probably not the best time, but I could take good care of myself.

“Your actions yesterday strongly disagree, someone responsible who is strong enough as well. Your brother, or me, or Mystien, or … we’ll think of some others. As for now, I’ve got something to cheer you up a bit and keep you busy.”

“Oh?” One did not normally expect presents for irritating their parents, but what did I know?

“Yes, we managed to capture one of the professors, who I understand taught you. I’m also as certain as I reasonably can be that she has no loyalty at all to the former nobility, and she agreed to tutor you. This way, you can keep up with your education as well as we can manage until we get the academy back up and running.”

That last part piqued my interest. “Wait, you’re reopening it?”

“Yes, there will be some changes, but young mages still need guidance.” He looked a bit smug at that. “And you are going to be attending. I’m staying here for the foreseeable future and not having you go would not look good.”

“Hooray!”

“Good, I’ll go and prep your tutor. Come down to the training area in a bit.” With that, he left us.

“You really managed to tick him off, you know that?” John offered after Dad had made his exit.

“He’ll get over it, or he won’t, either way I’m not five anymore and he can’t just keep me locked up.”

“Oh, he totally could. If he wanted it, you’d be in a locked and really warded room. You might eventually escape, but it would be a good long time. From what I hear, Mystien talked him down from that though.”

“Because Mystien has some sense.”

John just shook his head for a few moments, seeming to not believe that I could, or definitely would, find some dumb way out of whatever prison Dad might have been envisioning. I hadn’t experimented with a whole load of things that were on the list, but I just didn’t have time for it, yet. Locking me up would have been a surefire way to see me poof like smoke at a magician’s show.

“So, who’s the professor he found?” I asked, hoping it was someone fun.

“No idea.”

“Seriously? You didn’t even ask?”

“Nope.”

“Come on then, let’s go find out.” I turned and left, heading down the hall. We made it all the way to the end before John told me I was going the wrong way.

After a few times of my trying to lead the way, my brother took over. I was hoping he would after my first wrong turn, but he seemed to think that he had years of teasing to make up for. Eventually though, we did arrive at the training area.

“You took long enough,” Dad said a bit gruffly as we came in.

“We got a bit lost,” John responded, chuckling.

“Right then, I believe you’ve already met?”

I looked past him to see Professor Etia standing there, looking pleased as punch. “Good morning, Alana, I’m so happy you’re all right. Is this charming young man your brother then?”

My dad gave her a brief look. “John, you are not to sleep with your sister’s tutor.” He seemed to have at least some sense of what Professor Etia might try.

She looked a bit scandalized but recovered her smile quickly.

“I agree completely, Father.” Two could play John’s game. “It would be completely inappropriate.”

“Thank you,” my father said.

“I mean, while she may be an excellent dancer and would probably blow his mind, it’s just wrong. I mean, while those hips may not lie, it’s just unacceptable.”

“Where in the world did you learn that song, Alana? It’s classical. I haven’t even heard it in years.” Professor Etia gave me a look as she asked.

It took me a full moment to process that. It would seem someone was a fan of 2000s music. Interdimensional copyright infringement aside, I had work to do.

“Uh … a book, I think. Anyway, my brother definitely shouldn’t try to end up with you.”

“Whose side are you on?” Dad asked as he turned back to us.

“Whichever one lets me tease John more, of course.” That got a lovely chuckle from my professor; she at least understood.

CHAPTER 4

✦

TEAMING UP WITH PROFESSOR ETIA

Professor Etia was as interested in our lessons as I was. I’d not had a chance to talk to her since I’d managed to pull off lighting with her techniques, but now I had all the time I needed. She was thrilled that I’d managed such an advanced bit of magic with dance, even in part, and insisted on making that the focus of our lessons. That was not particularly surprising, but it did at least give me something fun and physical to do.

She had managed to not be locked up because she was an elf. The good professor was quite clear, even before the war, that she didn’t really feel any loyalty to the kingdom, as it was for and run by humans, and was only here for her own reasons. That had not won her many friends in the elites of society, but everyone could easily tell that she was quite good at what she did. Her skill had landed her a teaching position, even with her blasé attitude about governance.

Therefore, when the group of students she’d been leading out of the school got caught, it was easy for her to prove that she cared about the welfare of her charges, but not who was in charge, because it was common knowledge. She’d been held for a time and interviewed but could honestly care less about opposing the new regime as well, since they didn’t seem that much different in her eyes from the previous. Not caring and having no connections had meant that she didn’t pose a threat. She was still watched and knew that if she tried anything, they’d be on her, but I didn’t think she would.

I now could go out into the city if I took someone with me as a bodyguard, but that wasn’t horridly appealing at the moment. Everything was deep in snow and mostly shut down. The places that were still open were limited in number, and they tended to be filled with those who were just trying to get by with the destruction in the city. Said destruction wasn’t too terrible overall, but many houses had been destroyed in the fighting, so there were more refugees than were easy to handle.

Which is why one afternoon I found myself going to a dinner meeting with my dad and Mystien. It was of the informal sort as I wasn’t really involved in their official work, but I thought it still counted.

“How are things progressing?” Dad asked, looking up from his food. We all ate pretty simple fare here, it being a military installation and all, and he seemed to prefer that.

“Good, I’m learning a lot about dance casting. There are some tricks to it, so it’s slow-going, but it’s at least fun.”

“Excellent, I’m glad to hear you’ve found something safe that you enjoy.”

“I’ve been thinking.” Both heads turned toward me, and Mystien set up a privacy barrier. “Good grief, nothing that serious.”

“And yet it does seem to become that serious when you start acting.” Mystien was far more paranoid about me trying new things now.

“Is there any way we can help those who lost their homes in the fighting? Even food and stuff.”

Both men let out a breath. “Alana,” Dad began, “we are doing things for them. There are a number of shelters set up, and food is being brought in from the eastern part of the empire where it’s more stable. Some of them aren’t accepting it, but some are. Things will repair in time, but it’s hard to do in winter, for now we’re just trying to make sure everyone makes it through okay.”

“But a lot of homes are gone, and I’ve heard some of the men in the training hall talking about how people are still grabbing up all the food they can.” That was true enough. I spent a lot of time there, and some of the guards did talk to me. Many of them were a bit tired of the duties guarding supply locations and distribution points. It was apparently hectic most of the time.

Dad looked at me with very tired eyes. “Alana, John told me about what you went through in the village. About … about how the people starved. That isn’t what’s happening here though. Please believe me that between us and the various temples, there is no chance of that kind of starvation. Even housing isn’t as bad. While a lot is gone, we can set people up in the undercity in the worst cases; it’s not great, but it will serve.”

He’d hit the nail on the head there. I knew that things were not great right after the siege and thought that they would certainly struggle through the winter. I was even prepared to go full on bakery mode again if it helped. His words did ease some of my fears, but apparently enough showed through on my face.

“Oh, good grief.” Mystien shook his head. “Why don’t you just go and look around a bit. In fact, I’m heading down to the border of the temple district in a couple of days to have a meeting with Bishop Theodore and hopefully young Dras. You can come along; it might even help.”

“What? What do you want with Dras?”

“Well, we want him on our side obviously since you went and gave him a military secret. Barring that, we want your little communicator back. If he’s loyal to the crown, then him having it would be an issue, particularly if he tells anyone where he got it. What is your opinion?”

I considered. “Dras is a commoner, and while he’s skilled, I don’t think he’s all that into the old royal family. We both had a pretty good interaction with Prince Lief though, so that might affect him. But overall, I think he could be convinced at the very least to stay out of it.”

Dad added in, “I can’t believe you just handed something like that out like candy.”

I huffed, “Not like candy. I gave one to my only trusted adult guardian, one to my best friend, and one to my years-long friend that I’ve been dating.” I honestly hadn’t gotten to see Kala much, but we had managed a few conversations via communicator.

My father stiffened a bit. “I see, then you should definitely go. If that’s the case, you probably can get this young man on our side. When you do though, I’d like to have a chat with him, so he knows the things about you he should.”

“I’d also like to talk to Miss Kala. We can’t get her on our end militarily, but if she understands things, her order will make sure she keeps them quiet. I doubt they’ll be willing to make her hand over the communicator, but we can ask for it.” Mystien seemed a bit more pragmatic. Dad was just being weird.

“Why do you want them back so bad?” I asked.

“Because we don’t want anyone else listening in on our conversations.” Mystien seemed to think this was obvious.

“Just change the settings.”

“What?’

“If you want one on a different grouping, just change the light settings.” There wasn’t an easy way to talk about light frequency in our language. It was baked into the core, but that was all in faux English and so not really useful.

“Is that workable? Can we actually have multiple different lines for communications that won’t overlap?” I often forgot that a lot of things that seemed rather obvious to me would be new ideas to others.

“Sure. Why not? I mean, obviously there are limits, but you could have a bunch if you really wanted.” Mystien sighed and pulled out a piece of paper, on which he began to write furiously. “What’s that for?” I asked.

“I’m writing up the requisitions I’ll need for protecting a private workshop with some wards, so we can explore the capabilities of these in actual privacy.”

I just frowned. “There are a few I’d like to add if you really want to get into this too deeply.” I was not going to be exposing myself to lots and lots of potentially high-energy radio waves without some protection.

He gave me another look. “Once I’ve done my setup, we can add what you think we’ll need.”

Conversation after that was rather mundane. Dad asked about my day and how I was liking Etia. I really was enjoying our lessons and was learning tons. He even said that he’d come to see some of our training against the team that had come to the school, which was scheduled for the next day.

They still did want to go up against me again. I think the failure had hit them a bit hard with all of their previous success, and they needed to prove something. That didn’t seem all that important to me, but if it helped them, I was fine with it. They were polite enough about it all anyway.

Professor Etia had volunteered to join me since she wanted to know where my skills in that avenue had progressed and show me some of her own. I’d never seen her fight, so I was excited to get a look at how Elven bards did things. It was a chance that was rather uncommon in our lands and one I didn’t plan to miss.

The next morning, I joined my teacher. While I’d chosen my normal armor, which had been kindly dyed black, she showed up in her full dancing regalia.

The men assembled just gawked like idiots for a few moments. The whole capture team seemed stunned; my brother, who’d somehow inserted himself into this, was absolutely slack-jawed. The only small mercy was that my dad hadn’t shown up just quite yet.

“So, what are we doing exactly? Knowing the rules of the exercise are important,” Professor Etia declared as she approached both me and the capture team.

“Um … so this is a standard practice session. The goal is to disable your opponent, with minimal or ideally no harm from us. We’d appreciate it if you didn’t bring in any magic that is too injurious, and a simple light ball or intentionally weakened spell to signal an attack is more than sufficient.”

“Very well, what about weapons?”

“Right, right. We don’t normally use standard weapons, but we do use these.” He produced one of their small needle-like tubes. “These are filled with a sedative and are generally thrown by one of our wizards. Since we don’t actually want to knock anyone out, we’ll be substituting some small padded sticks instead. If you need an actual practice weapon, we can ask some of the soldiers. I’m sure they’d be happy to loan you one.”

“I don’t think that will be needed. What about area constraints?”

The man briefly explained that we’d be using one half of the training room. They’d brought in a few small columns and the like to place here and there for cover, to imitate the things that were normally in a given space. There was even an old beat-up table that had been taken from somewhere and a few ratty chairs. He told us that they liked using stuff like this when possible because real fights were almost never in wide-open areas.

She seemed happy with that and nodded after a few more questions to me about how exactly my barriers worked. “All right, I’m ready then.”

Both sides moved to designated parts of the training area to prepare. We were planning on waiting for my father. We didn’t have to wait long though, as within a few moments he entered the room. Then he did a double take upon seeing Professor Etia.

My guess was that dad had never actually seen Atali Dance or any of its costuming. He’d been busy and never come down when she was teaching me, so I knew he hadn’t seen me dance. John was certainly in that boat, too, and based on how he was full-on ogling Etia, I suspected that he would really enjoy what was about to happen.

“Very well then, let’s get this started,” Dad declared after taking a moment to compose himself.

CHAPTER 5

✦

MOCK BATTLE

As soon as Dad’s words left his mouth, chaos erupted. Professor Etia didn’t hesitate for even a second and began casting, with me only a beat behind her. While I started with singing, we both also launched into dance. It was immediately obvious how far beyond me in that skill she was.

To their credit, the capture team didn’t miss a trick, either, and began their spread. A few of them even prepped their darts to launch at us as soon as they thought us ready. Meanwhile, their other wizards began a series of small spells, which they launched like machine-gun fire. It seemed they were beginning much as they had before.

For my part, as soon as I got my shields up to a manageable level, I started spinning out duplicates of myself and Professor Etia. I thought that perhaps someone like Charles would be able to tell the difference, but their wizards should not be able to in a short time. Each of the illusions mimicked our moves nearly perfectly, and within seconds one side was filled with girls spinning in unison.

It was as I was getting those set up that we were hit with the sound cancellation magic. Since I knew it was coming—and we’d practiced dance casting pretty thoroughly in the past few days—this was no big deal.

Several of the darts launched at a mix of us and my illusions. Some passed through fake dancers; some hit my shields and came to a stop before starting to fall. They only started to fall though, and I understood why Professor Etia had been asking about my shield. Those that missed were being deflected into the air harmlessly and turning in wide circles.

My kinetic blocking shield basically just dispersed the energy; that was how most shields tended to work. This meant that the little projectiles either bounced away lightly, deflected, or just sort of stopped. All of these were fine in that they wouldn’t actually break any of the little darts until they hit the ground.

My professor was taking them, all of the launched ones started to circle. The faster ones began to go in wide arcs around the room and toward the capture team. Those that had hit my shield simply floated over to her where they circled around her wrists and waist, getting those to split everywhere was a bit of a pain, but I managed it. There was little power involved there, but there didn’t honestly need to be that much; they were small and light.

One of the mages holding the silence spell had eyes go wide as one of their projectiles came back and hit him. Two others followed and the last one maintaining it faltered as he had to dodge.

As it dropped, my teacher began humming loudly, her fingers snapping to the beat. I recognized it as one of the practice songs, a simple tune that worked well on drums and flute. With hardly a thought, I fell into rhythm with her. That was the moment the fight changed.

One bard was not much of a threat. Two not working together was not too much more. Now though, each of us was feeding off the resonance of the other. They were still having trouble tracking the real us from my illusions and had lost three of their number.

Professor Etia went on the attack, firing back dart after dart in waves of twos and threes. They didn’t stop if they missed, however; those simply started to turn, arcing around us in a circle. I noted that she seemed to be circling them in predominately clockwise rotations and added a bit of wind to help speed them along.

Our fight continued much like that. I eventually managed to get a storm up to send light bolts at anyone who looked like they were making shields while Professor Etia kept the team pinned down with their own weapons. At that point, it was pretty much over, and we all knew it. As our last opponent ducked out after getting a light shock from me, there was silence.

The gathered soldiers didn’t seem to know exactly what to think, and to be honest, neither did I. I thought we’d done well, and perhaps even taken down most of them, but I did not expect us to actually defeat their entire team.

Professor Etia smiled at me. “I did not get my job just because of my good looks.”

“What in the world was that spell you were using?” I asked. “It wasn’t like anything I’d seen before.”

“Oh, it’s used in later forms of dance to make ribbons, little torches, or stuff fly around. Some bards will make swords dance back in Atali, but it’s really difficult to do. Most of them end up spending so much time mastering that one trick that they never learn anything else. They make great gladiators and all, but lousy actual combatants.”

“Will you show it to me later?”

“Of course, Alana dear.”

I doubted that I’d ever use it for swords, but it was a neat trick, and really useful for something like darts. That and the way she’d quickly established a way for us to work together had been huge in winning.

“My, my, that was something,” the leader of the capture team said as he massaged a spot on his arm where he’d been hit.

“Yeah, it certainly was; you two did a magnificent job.” John had wandered over, ostensibly to get a better view of my teacher’s outfit. This was at least my guess since he wasn’t looking at me at all.

Dad looked … stunned. He came over to join us rather slowly, watching me as he did so.

“Alana.”

“Mmm.”

“Did they … teach you that at school.”